September 10, 1989

Op-Ed: Death in Tiananmen

By ARTHUR MILLER

OXBURY, Conn. -- That month in Beijing six years ago was exhausting but
exhilarating, too. As the first foreign theatrical director
in the People's Republic of China, I was directing ''Death
of a Salesman'' with Chinese actors in Beijing's People's
Art Theater, the equivalent of the Moscow Art Theater.
There was a lot of skepticism surrounding the project, with
many Chinese and foreigners doubting that the Chinese
audience would understand the very American play.

As it turned out, we needn't have worried. ''Salesman'' is
about a family and business, and the Chinese practically
invented both, and their reaction was little different than
audience reaction had been in New York City and in theaters
in any other Western city.

The man who made it all possible was Ying Ruocheng, actor,
director (he played the leading role of the prison warden
in the movie ''The Last Emperor''). He is also a scholar
and linguist and did the incredible ''Salesman''
translation. It was so close to the English that I found
myself able to stop actors on specific lines in order to
change their interpretations.

Mr. Ying played Willy Loman brilliantly, acted as my
translator to the actors, and, of course, also cast the
play. The production has become a staple in the repertoire
and has played all over China, and I have been told that it
has been a strong influence on the new generation of
China's playwrights.

I am putting this down for a reason. Mr. Ying's father was
the head of Beijing University and decided to leave China
when the Revolution exploded, taking the family to Taiwan.
Then in his teens, Mr. Ying soon decided to return to the
mainland to cast his fate with the new regime, and, despite
being exiled to the distant countryside during the Cultural
Revolution, has never ceased being a passionate but
sagacious patriot. Not long ago, he was appointed Vice
Minister of Culture - a sacrifice for so busy an actor in
both films and theater.

With the novelist Wang Meng, who a bit earlier had been
made Minister of Culture, Mr. Ying began the immense work
of opening China to world literature and art, to which it
had been largely closed off.

As one who had worked in Europe in film, Mr. Ying had a
more accurate understanding than most of China's need to
create its own modernist styles, while retaining its
uniqueness.

There are not many Chinese with his background, his
profound knowledge and love for the Chinese cultural past
and a sophisticated appreciation of foreign works and
trends. The development of a contemporary Chinese culture
is hard to imagine without such people, rare as they are.

In the weeks following the violent repression in Tiananmen
Square, Chinese officials were required to issue statements
in support of the Government's action against the students.
Wang Meng failed to make such a statement and so did Ying
Ruocheng. Both have been relieved of their duties.

On Oct. 1, the Federation of Chinese Students in the United
States will conduct a march on the Chinese Embassy in
Washington. Ten thousand of the 40,000 in this country are
expected to participate.

These young Chinese, the future of China, are trying to
keep alive the spirit that I was privileged to have seen
awakening six years ago when the very idea of staging an
American play in Beijing was close to incredible, and the
hope of China's opening to the creative winds of our
century was something new and wonderful.

Without being especially aware of it, and notwithstanding
its own terrible social problems, America has become a sort
of light-bearer to the Chinese.

This students' demonstration in the Capitol will be a
protest, but it is implicitly a gesture as well of their
confidence in America's support of the libertarian spirit
that our nation has helped to engender in China and in its
stubbornly dedicated younger generation. Surely all
Americans - artists, students and teachers especially -will
sympathize with them.

Arthur Miller, the playwright, wrote the
screenplay for ''Everybody Wins,'' a film that is to be
released in February.